The Gjader center in Albania, conceived by the Italian government to accelerate asylum claim processing, has operated solely as a Repatriation Center (CPR) since April. Only 140 migrants have passed through the facility to date, with 113 released: 40 due to expired detention orders, 15 for health incompatibility, 7 granted international protection, and others for varied reasons. Just 37 were repatriated, leaving 27 currently housed.
These minimal figures starkly contrast initial ambitions for the €1 billion, five-year project. The Rome-Tirana agreement, signed by Prime Ministers Giorgia Meloni and Edi Rama, envisioned processing up to 3,000 asylum seekers monthly at Gjader—36,000 annually. Italy funded three facilities: an 880-bed asylum center, a 144-bed CPR, and a 20-cell prison, plus an “hotspot” at Shengjin port where migrants intercepted in the Central Mediterranean were to be transferred via Italian naval vessel.
However, all attempted transfers failed after Rome’s District and Appeals Court judges refused to validate detentions at Gjader. They cited Italy’s inability to classify origin countries like Egypt or Bangladesh as “safe” for repatriation, prompting magistrates to seek guidance from the EU Court of Justice, which ruled today.
Anticipating this outcome, the Italian government repurposed the centers in April. Instead of asylum seekers intercepted at sea, it now transfers only migrants already held in Italian CPRs to Gjader—circumventing judicial barriers to detention. Numbers remain far below projections, partly because any transferred individual applying for asylum must be returned to Italy for processing. While today’s EU ruling doesn’t affect the centers’ current use, it underscores their chronic underutilization.
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